ATAF - VAT TECHNICAL COMMITTEE Frankie Mbuyamba

BACKGROUND AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES ATAF established since May 2017 an Expert Committee on VAT for Africa. The following tax authorities made up the VAT Committee: BURS, GRA, KRA, MRA (Malawi), MRA (Mauritius), OBR, RRA, SARS and ZIMRA. Place of VAT in the African Tax Mix – VAT has the highest share in total collections. The need to modernise tax administration for better revenue collection. The impact of international development on African tax administration (digitisation, E-Systems in use in Africa, VAT fraud…) Various topics of interest were proposed but the most important to be developed are: VAT compliance in the construction industry and VAT and the e-commerce. Workplan of the committee for every twelve months include the development of guidelines or/and reports. © 2017 - African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), All rights reserved.

Meetings and workplan activities 3 Meetings have been organised since inception of the VAT technical committee Wide questionnaire for the ATAF members: to ascertain how countries are applying VAT in the construction industry (e.g. audits/risk/etc.) Upon receipt of the outcomes of the questionnaire, a consolidated report will be produce as a guidance document Development of e-commerce on the other hand: specially on VAT of online sales Plan to host e-commerce seminar; draft guidelines © 2017 - African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), All rights reserved.

Challenges Limited responses received from administrations for completion of questionnaires; Lack of clarity on the contributions to be made by individual members of the VAT technical Committee; Lack of clarity on the objective of the assignment; Insufficient communication by the committee on deliverables; Insufficient time allocation of members of the committee to the work of the VAT technical committee. In order to rectify the above deficiencies, the Committee agreed to: Re-commit, under the leadership of the Chair, to meet the objectives and timelines associated with the delivery of the report on the construction industry; Clearly state the objective of the questionnaire (completed on 21/10/2018); Refine the questionnaire to improve the quality of responses and also, to make it easier for countries to complete the forms

Resolutions The Chair and individual members committed to adhering to the workplan to ensure a finalized product on the construction industry is concluded in 2018. The Chair and individual members resolved to provide a written summary of in-country developments (which are attached as Annexure A to this report). The Committee’s work on e-commerce will commence in 2019 after completion of the construction industry guidelines.

More Information Thank you Merci Obrigado © 2017 - African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), All rights reserved.